Guillermo Tell Villegas Pulido

For his uncle and provisional president of Venezuela of the same name, see Guillermo Tell Villegas.

Guillermo Tell Villegas Pulido
President of Venezuela Interim
In office 31 August 1892 – 7 October 1892
Preceded by	Guillermo Tell Villegas
Succeeded by	Joaquín Crespo
Personal details
Born	(1854-07-28)28 July 1854 Barinas, Venezuela
Died	25 July 1949(1949-07-25) (aged 94) Caracas, Venezuela
Political party	Liberal Party
Alma mater	Central University of Venezuela
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Guillermo Tell Villegas Pulido (28 July 1854 – 25 July 1949), was a Venezuelan lawyer, journalist and politician. Acting president of Venezuela in 1892, during the crisis of the Revolución Legalista (Legalist Revolution), led by Joaquín Crespo.

Villegas Pulido was born in Barinas to José Antonio Villegas and Nieves Pulido. He soon moved to Caracas, studying law at the Central University of Venezuela, from which he graduated in 1875. Along with his uncle of the same name, founds in 1876 "La Paz" school in Caracas.

In 1879, he was appointed as special commissioner of Venezuela in Panama. He also served as Secretary of Interior of the Federal District (Caracas) between 1879 to 1880, and secretary general of President Antonio Guzmán Blanco. In 1881, was judge of first instance in Caracas, and deputy to the National Congress for the Bolívar state, period 1890-1892.

He became president following the resignation of his uncle Guillermo Tell Villegas. Thanks to his influences, in 1892 help to established the Psychiatric hospital of Caracas, after visiting the Insane Asylum of Los Teques, and watching the neglected conditions of patients. Villegas Pulido sought for better alternatives, remodeling an old barracks located in west Caracas, and with help of the San José de Tarbes Nuns Community, enabled a train to facilitate the transfer of patients to the new building, being inaugurated on 17 September 1892. In the government of Joaquín Crespo was exiled from Venezuela.

He headed of government of the states Falcón (1898), Guárico (1900–1901) and Apure (1903–1904). He was also Attorney General of Venezuela (1899-1909, 1913–1916 and 1936 ).

From 1906 until 1907, was Consul of Venezuela in the island of Trinidad. He was president of the chamber of deputies in 1909. In 1912 through 1934, served as interim president of the Orden del Libertador (Liberator Order). He was also dean of the Faculty of Political Science and Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Venezuela (1930–1933) and a founding member of the Academy of Social and Political Sciences.

Villegas Pulido, was also dedicated to journalism, founding the magazines Alianza Literaria (1876), La Mayoría (1879), at the city of La Victoria, and the journal Monitor in Ciudad Bolívar (1889), first newspaper that reacts against Antonio Guzmán Blanco.

Guillermo Tell Villegas Pulido died in 1949 at the age of 94.

Bibliography

• Jurisprudencia médica venezolana (1916)
• Los extranjeros en Venezuela: su no admisión, su expulsión (1919)
• El Matrimonio - Estudio de Medicina Legal en relación con la Ley Venezolana (1920)
• Estudio sobre el libro El Presidente del doctor R. F. Seijas
• El certificado prenupcial (1938)
• Índice de Leyes y decretos de los Estados Unidos de Venezuela (1939)
• La inquisición de la Paternidad por el examen de la sangre (1940)